The story is not that a Miss Canada finalist condemned Israel in her political speech during the pageant. It was that she also mentioned Saudi Arabia in that same speech.

By targeting Israel while ignoring human rights violations (of far greater severity) in other countries, BDS has revealed itself as antisemitic. But it was only a matter of time that BDS would learn to reshape its narrative and overcome the criticism. In her speech during the Miss Canada pageant, Hala Yassin veered off the long-established BDS script and attacked both Saudi Arabia and Israel.

If you don’t think that this is a watershed moment, just watch. BDS will now begin to place Israel alongside every human rights violating country (as well as Nazi Germany, as they already do).

The only antidote to this type of pop-culture BDS attack is education of our youth, beginning at early ages, so that they understand the nuanced insidiousness of the political warfare campaigns being waged against Israel.

Here is Yassin’s political speech:

“Hi, My name is Hala. The Canadian Parliament recently passed a motion to formally condemn BDS movement, the boycott divestment and sanction [sic] movement. The problem is that it is our freedom of speech and our freedom of choice that we are touching. Countries that do not respect human rights and international law need to be condemned, not the BDS movement. Countries like Saudi Arabia, that do not respect women’s liberty, where Raif Badawi was condemned to a thousand lashes for criticizing radical Islam. Countries, like Israel, that still in 2016, colonize, bomb, and treat Palestinians like third class citizens. Saying that it is antisemitic or Islamophobic is irrelevant, because it has nothing to do with religions, but everything to do with humanity. But today I want you to remember this, struggles take a long time to get solved. If black people had given up in the past, they could still be slaves today. Things are changing. Have faith. Don’t choose to ignore. Choose to BDS. Boycott, divest, and sanction criminal countries. On behalf of all victims of injustice around the world, we thank you.”

The Israel Group

The Israel Group was established to identify, develop, and launch initiatives aimed at crippling the boycott (BDS) movement aimed at Israel.